SATELLIFE wins Swedish health award for IT program in Africa

By Julie Fossler

SATELLIFE is co-winner of the 2002 Award in Health from the Stockholm Challenge, for using information technology to save lives in Africa.

Featured in the information and communication technology session at InterAction’s Forum 2002, this initiative -- an effective partnership between SATELLIFE, the American Red Cross and the Acumen Fund – studied a measles epidemic using hand held computer survey tools, known as personal digital assistants or PDAs.

The Stockholm Challenge is an awards program recognizing pioneering information technology projects in international development. Informed, the health information network of Cuba, was the co-winner in health.

"We are thrilled by the acknowledgment that SATELLIFE is revolutionizing the way people think about using technology in Africa," said SATELLIFE Executive Director Holly Ladd. "Our project demonstrated that relatively simple and affordable technology can deliver life-saving information in parts of the world that aren't even wired for telephones, let alone the Internet … in an environment where 8,000 people die of AIDS every day and a child dies every minute from measles while doctors don't even have medical journals, it can make a world of difference."

The award-winning project was funded by Acumen Fund, a public charity that links philanthropists with opportunities to invest in social change enterprises. "Their use of handheld computers in Africa opens up opportunities for the public and private sectors to pursue strategies for positive change throughout the continent," said Dan Toole, Acumen’s chief operating officer.

During the first phase of the project, SATELLIFE teamed with the American Red Cross and its partners in the Measles Initiative to conduct fast and accurate field surveys during an intensive national measles vaccination campaign in Ghana. Thirty Ghanaian Red Cross volunteers - many of whom had never even seen a computer -- were trained to interview adults who brought children in to be vaccinated, and entered the data into handheld computers. The volunteers completed over 2,400 field surveys in just three days, whereas a traditional pen and paper survey would have yielded only about 200 surveys.

A similar project in Kenya was conducted by 28 Kenyan Red Cross volunteers at vaccination posts in four Kenyan districts, surveying 2,033 parents who brought their children to be vaccinated. The survey results will be used to help plan future measles initiatives across Africa.

"This technology made it possible for us to gather important data that can make future measles vaccination campaigns even more effective," said Dr. Mark Grabowsky, senior technical adviser for the American Red Cross. "We were also able to look at important health indicators for each family and process the information instantly, which is unprecedented for this type of epidemiological data. The Ministry of Health of Ghana received a report that it can use to form strategies for immunization and treatment within hours, rather than weeks or months."

Phase Two of the project equipped doctors and medical students with handheld computers -- loaded with treatment guidelines, essential drug lists and medical textbooks -- donated by Skyscape. ``Knowledge saves lives," said Fred Kakaire of HealthNet Uganda, SATELLIFE’s field manager for Phase Two. "I hope this recognition focuses the world's attention on the problems we face every day and makes it possible for us to give this technology to more of our doctors.’’

Julie Fossler is manager of InterAction’s ICT Working Group.